{"id":2185,"date":"2010-11-29T16:53:23","date_gmt":"2010-11-29T22:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.com\/blog\/?p=2185"},"modified":"2010-11-29T16:53:23","modified_gmt":"2010-11-29T22:53:23","slug":"romans-1123-the-returning-remnant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-1123-the-returning-remnant\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 11:23 \u2013 The Returning Remnant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Romans 11:23 <\/strong>– The Returning Remnant<\/span><\/h2>\n

And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The Jews will return to faith in Jehovah and His Messiah.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The word translated \u201ccontinue<\/span>\u201d in both the previous verse and the current verse is epimen\u014d<\/em><\/span>. This is a compound word made up of epi<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cover, upon, or at\u201d and men\u014d<\/em><\/span>, which means \u201cto remain or to stay.\u201d Therefore, this word means \u201cto continue to remain at a particular place.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

In the previous verse we talked about God\u2019s goodness and His severity (cut-off-ness). His goodness has been shown to the Gentile nations because the gospel message has been delivered to us. His severity is shown in the cutting-off of the Jews because of their unbelief. He then warned us that if the Gentile nations don\u2019t remain in His goodness, they will also be cut off.<\/p>\n

Let me say once again that Paul\u2019s metaphor of the branches and the olive tree is referring to Jews as individuals and Gentiles as individuals or individual nations. If the metaphorical reference to the pruned branches referred to the Jewish nation as a whole, then he would be saying that God has rejected all Jews and none of them could be saved today. Also remember that the metaphorical comparison is between Jews and Gentiles, not Jews and Christians. Therefore, do not try to read into this that Paul is warning that we can lose our salvation if we don\u2019t continue in God\u2019s goodness.<\/p>\n

In the previous verse Paul warned us Gentiles that as a people we need to remain in a condition of belief or we as a people will be cut off. \u00a0Incidentally, this is a threat which, based on current national and world conditions (not remaining in a state of belief as a people), could be realized any day now. This makes me think of Matthew 16:2, 3<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

He answered and said to them,<\/span> “When it is evening you say, <\/span><\/span>‘<\/span>It will be<\/span><\/em> fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, <\/span>‘<\/span>It will be<\/span><\/em> foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot<\/span> discern<\/em><\/span> <\/span>the signs of the times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul now tells us that if the Jews do not remain in a state of unbelief, that is, if Jewish people finally recognize their Messiah, they will be grafted back in to a condition of experiencing God\u2019s goodness instead of His severity. But not all of the Jewish people will be grafted in, only a small group. This group of Jews is referred to by Isaiah as the \u201cremnant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return; the destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.<\/span> (Isaiah 10:21-22<\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Let us not be like the Pharisees! Let us discern the signs of the times! There are many indications that the return of Christ is very near. In light of this knowledge, we should be diligent in faithful service to God. We should be proclaiming the gospel message to everyone around us. Is that how you\u2019re living your life right now? Is your focus on yourself or God?<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 –<\/p>\n

If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, send an e-mail to:\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 11:23 – The Returning Remnant And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. Truth to Learn The Jews will return to faith in Jehovah and His Messiah. Behind the Words The word translated \u201ccontinue\u201d in both the previous verse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[707,708],"class_list":["post-2185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-continue","tag-epimeno"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-zf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}